Happy Moments

Today is a short break from posting my usual stuff so I can ramble about being on the lookout for tiny little things that bring joy. They might only last for a minute of the day, but there are things all around us if we just look for them and - no, this is not me making a resolution...God forbid, I hate resolutions... - I'm going to try harder to notice the little things.

I saw a desk calendar themed "a year of tiny pleasures", a celebration of the little things in life that make us happy - and it got me thinking. I shouldn't need a calendar to remind me of all the tiny little pleasures in life - but there are so many moments and things around us that might get overlooked, I need to pay more attention to them! Funny that I notice and share all the annoying stupid shizzle that is around me every day (traffic, people, noise, dog poop on the sidewalk...) but don't consciously find the good stuff to balance it all out.  This calendar is the inspiration behind something new I'm going to share each day at the end of my blog posts -  a tiny little moment, saying, pleasure, something that makes me happy....and hopefully will make you happy too! 

I'm talking little things - no big grand creative ideas to get you thinking, not going to stew and overthink this every day to find the just right, profound, meaningful things that will somehow inspire you or change your world LOL. 

For example - looking down at my feet and seeing Sarge on his side curled up against my chair, it's a good moment and makes me happy.

1.10.18: savory monkey bread
1.10.16: french bean and veggie soup

Tuna Noodle Casserole

I know, I know - tuna casserole is super common and normal and probably everyone's mom made this growing up (we ate it a lot!) and chances are you already know how to make it, but I made it for dinner and got a "that was the best tuna noodle casserole ever" from Dave so I thought I'd share how I did it. He isn't a casserole fan, but it was cold and rainy and neither of us wanted to go to the grocery store and I had the ingredients on hand...so casserole it was.

                         

I did a couple different things this time, versus the regular ol' way I would normally do it - and I will make it this way from now on! Cuz "best ever" demands the changes haha! One, I added a panko crumb mixed with melted butter topping on about 15 minutes before we were eating; two, I only had one can of cream of mushroom soup and it seemed dry so I made a little cream sauce from scratch to add moisture; and three, I sautéed some fresh mushrooms in a little butter and added them to the casserole.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 box cellentani pasta (or whatever shape you want, it was good with curly noodles), boiled according to package directions - I had about 4 big cups of pasta once cooked
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 can milk
• 1 cup frozen peas (I add these to the hot pasta and water a couple minutes before draining the pasta)
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese (I don't actually measure, just a couple handfulls)
• 1 can tuna, drained and flaked
• 1/2 cup fresh mushroom slices
• 1 Tablespoon butter

• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1 Tablespoon flour
• 1/4 cup milk or cream, additional water as needed for consistency
• 1/4 cup shredded cheese

• 1 cup coarse panko crumbs
• 1-2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/4 cup parmesan

Directions:

1. Saute the mushrooms in a little butter until browned.
2. In a small saucepan, melt 1 T. butter and stir in 1 T. flour until it's all incorporated. Keep stirring the flour for a minute or two to get rid of some of the flour taste. Slowly whisk in the milk or cream, stirring continuously until it thickens. If it's too thick add a little water to get it to the right consistency. Add 1/4 cup shredded cheese until melted. Season with salt and pepper. 
3. Stir together cooked pasta, soup, milk, peas, mushrooms, 1/2 cup cheese, tuna, and the extra cream sauce, pour into casserole dish. 
4. Bake at 350' for at least 30 minutes until heated thru. Note: I like to make this earlier in the day and put it in the fridge to set up and meld the flavors before baking it. If you do that and the casserole is cold, it needs longer to bake - I did 45 minutes. 
5. About 15 minutes before you are ready to eat the casserole, stir together the panko crumbs, parmesan, and enough melted butter to coat the crumb mixture, and sprinkle it overtop of the casserole. Turn up the oven temp. to 400' for about 15 minutes. 

Make Mini Trees From One Big Tree

Cathy has a very fun idea for an old Christmas tree - I get that it is now well past Christmas and you've taken all the decorations down at this point, but maybe you have an old tree you're planning on pitching and just haven't gotten around to yet? Instead of tossing, you might want to hold onto it and make this next year...

She removed the lower branches from her big artificial tree and turned them into 12 little trees for kids to decorate. Love this - what a great idea for a kid's Christmas party! Using a hack saw, she removed the branches and cut off the curve on the metal part of the branch, then inserted the branch upright in blocks of wood (Al drilled a hole in the middle of each block). The kids got to decorate their own tree using decorations Cathy bought at the dollar store. Economical, fun, and a great way of turning trash into treasure!

Makes me want to cut my tree apart and have a party 😉

Man-Day Monday: How to Check Tire Pressure

Here's the first installment of a new blog segment I'm calling "Man-Day Monday". I haven't researched to see if that's an actual thing or if I've coined a new phrase - anyone heard of man-day?! This is happening because I mentioned to Dave the other night that I think he should start his own blog about guy and/or ukulele stuff but he waffled because of the time commitment (I can't even tell you how many times he has heard me say "I can't do ____ because I have to blog", the idea of running his own blog is too intimidating at this point...), so I offered him a guest blog gig on make my day camp to get his feet wet. Who knows if this will be every Monday, or just first Monday of the month, or a one-and-done event...for now we have this short video on how to check your tire pressure if you freak out when an alert comes on in your car (especially if you're in LA and driving really fast and the thought of breaking down on a 6 lane freeway is slightly freaking you out) and you have no idea what to do...ahem, this may or may not have recently happened to me...so I present to you - "Man-Day Monday: how to check your tire pressure" so you can take care of this yourself from now on if you don't already know! If you love (or don't love) this new segment let me know - I'll pass it on to Mr. Man-day ;)






1.7.18: healthy breakfast egg muffins

1.7.16: fruitcake squares - they're good, promise!

Around The Campfire (week 1)

Dear Campers ~

Hope you all had a Happy New Year week - did you have a chance to take down all the Christmas stuff? I may or may not have been involved in a caper a long time ago with LeDonna involving a road trip to rid the world of Christmas decorations still up in February but my lips are sealed...;) Ours is put away other than a handful of things that I've deemed to be "winter" and not just Christmas - for real, not just being lazy HA!

It was a busy week, here's a recap if you didn't have time to check the blog:

Posts you might have missed ~

12/30: around the campfire (week 52)
12/31: antipasto wreath with prosciutto wrapped pears
1/1: happy new year!
1/2: diaper fold gift holder 
1/3: remove wax from candleholders 
1/4: paper mâché reindeer door hanging
1/5: unstuffed chicken cordon bleu

What's cooking ~

• tuna noodle casserole with panko topping
• grilled strip steak, roasted baby potatoes, deconstructed wedge salad with homemade bleu-cheese dressing
• oven baked bbq ribs, coleslaw
• grilled turkey ruebens
• lasagna, salad, garlic bread

Week one of the new year is in the books! Here we go...359 posts remaining for 2019 - stay tuned!

Sincerely,

Jill

camp counselor & COO of the madhouse 😊


1.6.18: LeDonna's hawaiian inspired jewelry

1.6.17: spicy crumb topped broccoli
1.6.16: washi tape decorated lamp shade

Unstuffed Chicken Cordon Bleu

Made this unstuffed chicken cordon bleu for Sunday supper and it was a huge hit. I'm never stuffing it again, why go thru that extra work when you can just layer the ham and cheese on top of thinly pounded chicken breasts - so much easier, looks great, tastes fantastic. You are definitely going to want to try this for yourself - I made a couple little changes but even if you follow her recipe exactly it'll be great and you'll look like a rock star when people gobble this up!

We had a couple pieces left over and it made for a delish lunch the next day...actually it made for delish breakfast for me, lunch for others haha.

 INGREDIENTS:

•  2 tablespoons olive oil 
•  1 1/2 pounds broccoli, cut into spears/thin wedges (see pictures in the post for a visual) 
•  Salt and pepper 
•  4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1 1/2 to 2 pounds), pounded to 1/4-inch thick or cut in half to form two thinner cutlets (see note) 
•  2 tablespoons Dijon mustard 
•  4 to 8 slices deli ham (exact amount depends on brand/size of slices) 
•  1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Gruyere or Swiss cheese 
•  15 Ritz crackers, coarsely crushed (about 3/4 cup) 
• 
  
• DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Make sure an oven rack is in the lower-middle position. Brush a large, rimmed baking sheet (about 11X18-inches) with 1 tablespoon of the oil.
2. Toss the broccoli with the remaining tablespoon of oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt (I use coarse, kosher salt), and a pinch of black pepper.
3. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season lightly on both sides with salt and pepper. Place the chicken breasts side-by-side on one side of the prepared baking sheet (to help them fit, you can alternate thicker end to thinner end as you lay them down). Placing them close together (without overlapping) will help the cheese stay put as they bake.
4. Spread the mustard lightly over the top of each chicken piece. Top with 1 to 2 slices ham to cover and then add 1/4 cup or so of the shredded cheese evenly across the top.
5. Sprinkle the cracker crumbs evenly over the cheese, and press lightly so the crumbs aren't loose.
6. Arrange the broccoli in a single layer on the opposite side of the baking sheet.
7. Bake for 20 minutes until the chicken registers 160 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer and the broccoli is roasted and tender. The exact time will depend on the thickness of the chicken. If the chicken still needs more time but the broccoli looks like it is finished, scoop the broccoli off the sheet pan onto a plate and lightly tent with foil while the chicken finishes cooking.
8. I recommend removing the chicken as soon as the sheet pan comes out of the oven so it doesn't sit in the liquid that will naturally pool on the bottom of the sheet pan.

My changes: I did green beans instead of broccoli, and roasted them on their own baking sheet - I made too much chicken for it all to be on the same pan. Used thinly sliced swiss cheese instead of shredded; and substituted coarse panko crumbs mixed with melted butter for the Ritz crackers. Oh man this is good ;)

The recipe came from Mel's Kitchen Cafe, click here for the original post. 

Paper Mâché Reindeer

I found a paper mâché reindeer at the craft store really cheap and even tho I had no idea what I'd do with it, I knew it'd be something. Too cute to pass up. I've been seeing deer antler art a lot lately, and that led to my thinking the paper mâché deer with fake flowers would be cute hanging on our front door.

Because it's paper and not sealed and our door gets a lot of sun, wind, occasional rain, I painted the face with a light creamy-colored craft paint just to help seal it. Then I wrapped the antlers using thick twine, just adding a drop of hot glue here and there to hold in place.

I tried a couple different types of twine before
deciding to go with the one on the right

For the flowers I found a bouquet of white flowers that looked wintery to me, what I really like is that the bouquet is already tied together so I didn't have to come up with how to attach individual flowers to the head. I just trimmed the stems down so they are flush with the back of the deer head, and held them in place on the deer with more twine tied around the hanger that came on the back of the deer. I'm not permanently attaching the bouquet so I can change it out with the seasons as I see fit (I already bought a pink bouquet on sale the other day at the craft store - look at me planning ahead for Valentine's day!).

For Christmas I hung it on top of a tinsel wreath with a big silver bow and put a couple pieces of fake pine garland around the antlers - wouldn't ya know it, we had a wind storm and the whole thing fell down and one of the antlers broke. Sigh. I performed surgery (removed the twine, hot glued back together, reinforced with masking tape, then re-wrapped the twine) and it's good as new. Better. Stronger. 6 million dollar man-like reindeer....or was that the Bionic Woman? Whatev. I fixed it.

Note that has nothing to do with how to make this project: Dave naturally rolled his eyes when I showed him our new front door-flower-decorated reindeer and asked why "the buck" was wearing a flower crown. I pointed out that it is, in fact, a female reindeer and did he know that female reindeers grow antlers? Hope you're sitting down and ready for this - because if you know Dave you know this is a shocker - he doubted me. Mumbled something about only males having antlers. And then I got to PROVE HIM WRONG by googling the fact that female reindeers do indeed grow antlers! Oh man that felt good.

One more reindeer fact because I'm on a roll - male reindeer shed their antlers in the fall and females in the spring. Which means Santa's reindeer are probably girls because the males don't have antlers in the winter!!! Mind blown, right? 😁

1.4.18: cookie sheet hack
1.4.17: grilled turkey ruebens
1.4.16: scrabble tile keychain

Quick Tip: removing old wax from candleholders

Super quick today - off to work but wanted to share this little handy tip that I tried while doing the 'after holiday cleanup'. This is not a new thing, but I'd never tried it and guess what? It totally works. I have a bunch of small votive holders that had old wax buildup in the bottoms - I'm always in too big of a hurry to clean it out so usually just put a fresh one on top of the old (I know, so lazy!). I put them in the freezer for a few minutes and sure enough, the wax just popped out! Who knew that all this time I could have had nice clean candleholders?! Later!

Diaper Fold Gift Holder

I watched a video that Ronda posted showing how to make this diaper fold gift holder; after all the times I've helped her at her Stampin' Up studio - and trust me, I've made a lot of paper gift holders for her - I've never seen this one! Super easy and it turned out soooooo cute I have to share with you. You're gonna want to do this for sure - it's now part of my commonly used techniques (along with wrapping paper gift bags, I use that ALL the time).

We just had our last holiday gift exchange so I made this holder with Christmas paper and decorations, obviously you can use this year round by using different papers, etc...You can also vary the sizes - this one I started with a 12" square piece of double sided decorative paper (this is Stampin' Up Christmas paper that is fuzzy on one side, how fun); if you don't use double sided paper then the inside of your holder and the flap that folds down in the front will be white - not bad, but I like the different patterns showing together. Do what ya' want! Change the size of the holder by changing the size of the square you start with - Ronda did as small as 6" square, up to a 12" one. The 12" is too big for a lone gift card, but if you have other things to put in the pouch, like I did, then big is ok.


1. fold the paper in half forming a triangle. Creasing the fold with a bone-folder will give you a nice crisp edge - if you don't have one I'd run something smooth and hard over the folds, like maybe a ruler or credit card.

2. with the point of the triangle that is open at the top and the folded edge at the bottom, fold in one side of the triangle straight across reaching the other side (see picture below), then fold in the other side. Add a glue dot or a little adhesive under the top flap to keep it down.

3. now that it's folded it sort of looks star-shaped to me - at the top is two open points, fold down the top one over the folds you created in step 2 leaving the bottom one still up. In the picture below, the bow print is what is on the back side of the striped paper, you see it once you fold the front point down. This opens the holder into a pouch where you place your small gift or gift cards.

To finish I cut out a 2.5" circle and a bunch of green sprig punches (using both a Stampin' Up circle and sprig punch). Glued the sprigs around the edge of the circle using a glue stick, creating a wreath. Attach to the front with adhesive.

Cute right? And simple! I love cute and simple ;)

1.2.2016: hot buttered rum. yum. 

1.1.2019 Happy New Years!

 My kind of resolutions -  not giving things up, just adding more of the good stuff! 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year ~ here's wishing you an amazing 2019 full of only good things :)

Cheers 🎉